The Lux’s cold, glowing eyes fixed on Alex as it began to approach again. It moved with an unnerving calmness, giving it the air of a predator. Each step it took felt like a slow, gradual countdown to Alex’s possible demise.

    Alex however, stood his ground. His Phoenix Flames were revolving around his now fully recovered body, and he felt as prepared as ever to face this terrifying Lux head on. He was by far the most frightening opponent Alex had to face ever since becoming an Awakened. Not because it was the strongest one he had to face off against himself, but because of its sheer lack of emotion.

    It was almost like a robot, which only left Alex’s emotions stirred up with anxiety.

    He took a deep breath, stabilising his chaotic mind. The fear and panic that he was feeling were still there, but they were suppressed deeply, only being able to gnaw at the edge of his consciousness. This wasn’t the time for self doubt or pity. Alex had to shift his entire focus on the Lux in front of him.

    "Alright, big guy." Alex muttered under his breath, focusing his gaze on the Lux.

    "If I have to die today, you’re coming with me."

    The Lux charged, with its King class aura spiking even further, aiming to put even more pressure on Alex’s shoulders and slow his movements. But the moment it neared within close range of Alex, it felt its own thoughts and movements become slowed. It didn’t know it, but this was the passive effect of Alex’s armour.

    This countered the pressure it had placed on the area just enough for Alex to hold his ground and keep himself steady.

    Whoosh!

    The Lux’s fist shot towards Alex at a blinding speed, with Alex’s instincts kicking in at the very same moment. He sidestepped with every ounce of ability he had, narrowly avoiding the strike that would have perhaps shattered his bones and set him flying from the spot. The punch of a B tier King class awakened was no joke, and this was taking into consideration that Alex didn’t know what talent it had yet.

    But from what he had seen on the battlefield earlier, he had a decent guess to what it was. For some reason, every one of the Lux’s seemed to possess the same water type attack, which at least alleviated some of the effort of trying to guess what kinds of attacks it would launch on him.

    ’Sure, water is fire’s natural enemy. But when fire reaches a certain point and temperature, the scales tip and water becomes the prey.’ Alex knew this fact quite well, only he didn’t expect for it to come into play during his fight.

    His Phoenix Flames were S+ rank though, so it at least made some sense in that department.

    ’Whatever it’s water type talent is, it must not be as highly ranked as my Phoenix Flames!’ Realising this, Alex was much more relentless in his attacks.

    He even began to taunt the opposing Lux.

    "So you can bleed."

    Alex spat on the ground, with his confidence slowly gaining more traction.

    The Lux responded with a guttural growl, with its aura flaring to an even greater intensity. It raised both arms, summoning a torrent of water that spiralled into twin lances of energy. With a flick of its wrists, it hurled them at Alex.

    Alex, seeing the opposing water lances, slashed Virtue’s Edge horizontally, unleashing an arc of Phoenix Flames to counter the incoming lances. The fiery wave crashed with the Lux’s attack, causing a violent explosion of steam and energy.

    The resulting shockwave knocked both Alex and the Lux off their balance, but they both quickly regained their footing, bracing themselves for whatever the other side might have in preparation.

    Alex though, fared worse off from the clash of elements between their attacks.

    The combination of fiery hot, scarlet flames and the extremely pressurised jets of water lances, caused an amalgamation of scalding hot steam to dig into his pores and attack his innards.